A Solitary Strategy for Taking on John Zorn

By

Larry Blumenfeld

June 18, 2013 4:34 p.m. ET

Pat Metheny's "Tap: John Zorn's Book of Angels, Vol. 20," (Nonesuch/Tzadik) likely took some of the guitarist's fans by surprise. The idea of Mr. Metheny, as genial and broadly appealing a presence as jazz knows, and winner of 20 Grammy awards in 10 categories, taking on the music of Mr. Zorn—a hero to New York's avant-garde scene as composer and saxophonist, whose brilliance rarely attracts the mainstream spotlight—seemed a stretch. It shouldn't.

ENLARGE

On his latest album, devoted to the music of John Zorn, Pat Metheny plays all the instruments except drums.
Associated Press

Mr. Metheny, 58, achieved popularity rare for an instrumentalist in any genre while still in his 20s, and he has sustained that appeal through restless virtuosity and a searching spirit. And never by conformity: He sounded as natural alongside Ornette Coleman on 1996's "Song X" as with his longtime quartet. Meanwhile, Mr. Zorn, 59, once tagged as a badboy of the downtown scene, must now be considered among contemporary music's most prolific and wide-ranging achievers; his ouevre has embraced with equal passion jazz improvisation, noise-rock, chamber music and orchestral works. In his notes to "Tap," Mr. Metheny wrote of Mr. Zorn: "With the sheer amount of musical energy he exudes, manifesting itself in endlessly fascinating ways, he has set up a zone of exploration and inquiry that is rich, true and vast."

Mr. Metheny found particular inspiration in Mr. Zorn's "Book of Angels," 316 songs Mr. Zorn composed in a flurry during 2004. That "book" marked the continuation of Mr. Zorn's Masada project, a growing body of music based on scales that are elemental to Jewish music.

Mr. Metheny's relationship with Mr. Zorn began a decade ago, through his book-jacket endorsement for the fourth edition of Mr. Zorn's essay collection, "Arcana: Musicians on Music," a series meant to illuminate the varied and often highly personal methods of musicmaking among contemporary players.

"Tap" opens a window to one such world (or to one of Mr. Metheny's several approaches). The project began as a collaboration. Mr. Zorn selected six compositions. Nonesuch Records and Mr. Zorn's Tzadik label released the CD simultaneously in late May. Yet the project was also a solitary endeavor. Mr. Metheny recorded and produced it at his home studio on Manhattan's Upper West Side during stolen moments between concert tours. Save for drummer Antonio Sanchez, the music is performed entirely by Mr. Metheny, on various guitars and other instruments, including piano, marimba, flugelhorn and the Orchestrion, a one-man electromechanical orchestra of his own creation.

This solitary strategy is one Mr. Metheny has employed before, beginning with 1979's "New Chautauqua" and, most recently, for his two Orchestrion CDs. This time, alone in his studio, Mr. Metheny felt as if he were channeling the composer. "The real testament to John's writing is how flexible and inspiring the pieces are," he wrote in an email. "They really invite you to pound on them and they fully retain their essential Zorn-ness no matter what you throw at them." Mr. Metheny threw plenty. His interpretations range from frenetic and hard-edged to heart-wrenchingly tender, sometimes through densely processed layers and wild extrapolations of theme, others via masterful playing of straightforward melodies on acoustic guitar.

It's mesmerizing music, rich with the nuances and details that reward repeated listening. Mr. Metheny is the 20th musician to record compositions in Mr. Zorn's series, yet nothing previous anticipates the depth and intensity of his achievement here. There are several startling passages of playing, on acoustic and electric guitars, all the more compelling for their unusual sonic contexts. The opening track, "Mastema," which features the Orchestrion among other instruments, shimmies and slides through loops and overdubs, and glimmers and rings with novel timbres that occasionally dissolve into searing guitar lines and structured noise. "Albim," which follows, exudes meditative calm. "Tharsis" builds immense, interlocking structures from a simple melody; "Hurmiz" takes such a melodic fragment as form. On "Sariel," playing sitar-guitar, Mr. Metheny suggests a Middle Eastern oud. Yet mostly, he's transporting us to an imaginary place, suggested by Mr. Zorn's muse and enabled through Mr. Metheny's own technical mastery and wild ambition.

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